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AT&T

AT&T’s 2012 announcement that it would phase out 2G service left most in the alarm industry, well, unfazed. With wireless technology, such changes come with the territory. Moreover, it’s not the alarm industry but the mobile phone industry that dictates network “sunsets.” As Lou Fiore, Chairman of the Alarm Industry Communications Commission, put it in a recent conversation: “As long as you go cellular, there is no endgame here.”

A few months after the initial announcement, AT&T attached a deadline (Jan 1, 2017) to its 2G sunset. Since that time, the AICC has established a regular line of communication with AT&T, which sends a representative to attend the organization’s quarterly meetings.

AT&T informed AICC that, while interim changes would take place in advance of the 2G sunset, the changes would not affect the alarm industry. AICC members, Fiore said, were “skeptical.”

“We tried to impress upon [AT&T] the fact that our control sets hang on the wall, and if you change the operating parameters of that network, it may not work anymore,” Fiore said. “You can’t ask the homeowner to move the unit around to see if it works.”

Fiore, who is in the process of gathering information regarding possible outages for units tied to AT&T’s 2G network, said that in given locations, customers might still get 2G coverage but that there’s a chance it “won’t be as deep as it was before.”

Fortunately, there are some steps alarm companies can take to mitigate outages. Companies can switch to AT&T's 3G or 4G network by choosing matching hardware from a cellular alarm communicator, or to one of AT&T's competitors (the 3G and 4G networks of Verizon and Sprint are an option, Fiore said). Certain companies may be able to go with a wired network, but this is highly contingent upon business model, Fiore noted.

Still three years from the deadline, AT&T’s 2G sunset promises to be a story with several more chapters. I’ll be watching closely to see what kind of ripple effects it has on the industry.

AT&T just launched Digital Life, its home automation/home security product, this April. But it’s already approaching its goal of expanding into 50 markets by the end of 2013.

The Dallas-based telecom announced today that as of Friday, Aug. 23, it will introduce Digital Life in six more markets: Orlando, Fla.; Providence, R.I.; Virginia Beach, Va.; and the cities of Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse in New York.

That will bring the number of markets for Digital Life to 39, just 11 shy of the company’s year-end goal of 50 new markets.

After successful trials of Digital Life last year in Dallas and Atlanta, AT&T in April launched the service in 15 additional major markets nationwide, ranging from San Francisco to Miami, and has rapidly been adding on other markets.

In July, for example, AT&T introduced the service in Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; San Diego; San Jose, Calif.; and Tampa, Fla.

Digital Life is professionally installed and also professionally monitored by At&T's two monitoring centers, one here and one in Atlanta. In June, the company announced that had received Five Diamond certification from the Central Station Alarm Association for its monitoring capabilities.

Customers can use their existing home broadband provider and any wireless phone service to use Digital Life, the company said.

DALLAS—AT&T announced today that it plans to launch Digital Life, its home automation/home security product, in six more markets beginning this Friday: Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, San Diego, San Jose and Tampa.

DALLAS—AT&T, which launched its Digital Life home security/home automation platform in April, has received Five Diamond certification from the Central Station Alarm Association, the company announced this week.

YARMOUTH, Maine—Selling home security at retail stores is one of the hottest trends in the industry. Comcast, AT&T and Lowe’s are among the big players doing it, and some smaller companies are carving a niche there as well. But the majority of SSN poll respondents see it as something else: a fad that won’t be supported in the long run by customers.

NEW YORK—Time Warner Cable is joining the new trend of retailing home security by offering IntelligentHome, its home security/home management product, in its several hundred retail stores nationwide, according to Adam Mayer, VP of IntelligentHome.

AUSTIN, Texas—The penetration rate for U.S. residential intruder alarm products will increase by 5 to 8 percent during the next three years, aided by the entrance of new telecom and cableco players in the market, according to a recent study from IMS Research, now part of IHS.

OKLAHOMA CITY—The president of Security Options feels validated by the fact that big companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Lowe’s are now selling home security in a retail setting. That’s because his 50-employee company has had a home security store for several years now.

SEATTLE—For Numera Corp. CEO Tim Smokoff, home security and mobile health monitoring are part of the same “natural conversation,” one that holds the promise of increased RMR for security companies as telehealth gains traction in the marketplace.